


A Little Bowl of Love

by PrincessAddieJ



Category: Labyrinth (1986)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-26
Updated: 2017-10-26
Packaged: 2019-01-23 09:20:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12504136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrincessAddieJ/pseuds/PrincessAddieJ
Summary: Jareth and Addie have some much-needed (if not non-traditional) father/daughter time.





	A Little Bowl of Love

Addie never had the patience for dolls, much less the understanding why they seemed so fun to young girls. Her little sister had kept plenty of them laying around, and the other Jareth had wished aloud on several occasions that she play with them instead of the dangerous weapons she favored. Nonetheless, the silly things were lost on her. At least in the traditional sense. 

 

Sarah had playfully – albeit with a significant amount of force – suggested that Jareth take the morning to himself instead of his duties, asserting that he would easily work himself to death if he didn’t take breaks once in a while. And it wasn’t that he disagreed with her. In fact, Jareth hated working as much as he did, especially with two special girls around that he would much rather lavish his attention on. But he felt altogether powerless to ignore the issues of the kingdom that fought for his attention at all hours of the day.  


In the end, the King allowed his Champion to push him bodily from his office, smiling like mad the entire time.  


“Go,” she had said, waving her index finger about in warning, “and don’t even think about coming in here until at _least_ this afternoon.” She seemed to have been practicing to hold the stern tone in her voice, as it did not waiver even for a moment, and he had a sneaking suspicion as to who the practice had been for.  


_Poor Addie for having to be on the receiving end of such authority,_ he mused to himself, laughing internally. It would have been an outward sound if the form he currently took were capable of laughter.  


As it were, Jareth had left Sarah’s company and promptly took a casual step through an open window, allowing himself the sensation of freefall for a long few seconds before transforming into a barn owl and swooping away from the ground at the last moment. He enjoyed the freedom flying allowed him, and tried to do it as much as possible. It was also a chance to do work in a roundabout sort of way. The vantage point he got of his kingdom this way was second to none, and it eased some of the guilt he felt not working to think that at least he was keeping an eye on things.  


_Sarah would be none too happy if she knew,_ he thought all of a sudden, guilt creeping up in a new way, unbidden.  


With an elongated eye roll, the King decided not to tempt himself further, and steered his pearly wings back to the castle. He gracefully swooped through one of the many openings that gave way to his throne room.  


_She said I couldn’t come back to my office until this afternoon,_ he reasoned, _she said nothing about the rest of the castle._

 

The Princess of the castle had been helping the gobs chase their chickens around the throne room for the better part of the morning, when a white blur swooped into the room. She caught only a glimpse of the thing from the corner of her eye, but followed its movements toward her father’s throne, where it landed gracefully. A fluffy barn owl turned its head curiously as it watched her.  


“Hiya Daddy,” Addie said cheerfully, immediately abandoning a chicken she nearly had in her grasp and walking up to the King.  


“I’ve never seen you as an owl before. Well, I guess I have, but it wasn’t _you_ you.”  


The owl said nothing, merely fluffing its feathers in a gentle shake. Addie gave him a gentle scratch and giggled.  


“You’re so cute. Ooooh and soft!” She ran both hands along his sides, admiring the fluffy texture. “You’re like a bowl of fluff!”  


Owl Jareth watched as his daughter’s gray eyes flashed with an idea. He knew that look. He wore it well.  


And if he was being honest with himself, it scared him a bit.  


She carefully picked her owl daddy up and cradled him as she did her brothers when they had been babies. One hand absently rubbed small circles against his soft tummy while she wandered down to the kitchen in search of the desired object. Jareth wanted to protest, but the feeling of having his belly rubbed by small hands was one that simply felt too good, and he told himself it was to make his girl happy, anyway.  


Addie walked confidently in the direction of the cabinets, opening one at her height, and pulling out a large faded mixing bowl she had used recently with her mother. She set it on the floor, and then promptly laid Jareth inside it. Barn owls weren’t typically the biggest of birds, but the bowl hadn’t been very big either. The Princess had set him down as he had been in her arms – on his back. His wings were tucked beneath him, not uncomfortably, and his legs stuck out one side of the bowl as one’s did when they were in a reclining chair. Overall, it was actually quite pleasant in a shocking way.  


A short laugh burst from Addie as she looked at what she’d done. It wasn’t a sound of amusement at the King’s expense, but instead, one he had never heard from her before – a mix of girlish glee at how cute she likely found him . . . And undiluted happiness. She really was having fun with this. She sat on her knees to be closer to him, hugging the bowl with both arms.  


“Can we play for a little while? Please?”  


He didn’t need to think at all before nodding. 

 

Sarah was actually very proud of Jareth. She had kept a close eye on his office, even enlisting the help of a few goblins to tell her when he went back to work, and she was surprised to find that he had actually managed to stay away for the majority of the day. He was probably off tucked away somewhere she couldn’t find him to get his work done, she was sure. Leave it to a fairy tale fae King to find the loophole in her words. At least he had done as she asked. Sort of.  


The woman went to fetch Addie and see if her daughter wanted a small snack before dinner, and was both happy and a bit confused to find what she found in the Princess’s bedroom.  


“What is this?” She asked, unable to keep a wide smile off her face.  


Addie was sitting cross legged on her bed with a mixing bowl in front of her, and in the bowl, was a barn owl she was sure was Jareth. Perrin watched from the floor, his large head propped up in the end of the bed as his master fluffed the little white creature with a brush. The owl had a shiny purple ribbon around its neck tied loosely in a bow, and what looked to be pale pink powder on its cheeks. The closer she got, the more she could see a darker powder framing its eyes, and bright red lipstick along the edges of its beak.  


“Hi Momma. Me and Daddy are playing. We had a spa day,” she said matter-of-factly, beginning to paint the owl’s claws with a bright blue polish. Sarah did her best to keep the laugh working its way up from spilling out as she took a seat next to Addie on the bed.  


“A spa day, huh?”  


“Yep. We took mud baths, and then _real_ baths, then some massages, and now I’m giving Daddy a makeover.”  


Sarah looked over at the owl and it met her with eyes that she swore were saying “ _not a word, love_.”  


“Well I’m glad you two had a great day. Thank you for keeping Daddy away from work on his day off.”  


“No problem,” the girl said, still concentrating on painting each little claw.  


“So where’d you get all this makeup, sweetie?”  


“Your room. I’m sorry for not asking. I don’t have any and I didn’t wanna use Daddy’s because he needed a new look. I’ll get you more, I promise.” Sarah could no longer hold back laughter and reached out to hug her daughter close, kissing her cheek.  


“It’s okay, Addie. If Daddy needed a new look, then my makeup went to a good cause.”


End file.
